The Yalta Conference was one of the most important events in history, let alone, this century.
It took place from February 4 to February 11, 1945, at Yalta, Crimea, a port/resort. The three main individuals at this meeting were Churchill of Great Britain, Roosevelt of the United States and Stalin of the U. S. S. R, known back then, and now known as Russia.
This meeting was to discuss the post war effects. The publics opinion of this was of a great Anglo-American- Soviet friendship. The agreement that as achieved at the conference was that a Coalition government would be set up in Poland. This guaranteed free election in Poland.
It also gave eastern Poland to the Soviet Union and in return, Poland would receive land from Germany. Germany on the other hand was divided into four zones which were Great Britain, United States, France, and the Soviet Union. Germany had to pay all reparations of the war but not to the extent of World War I. One other major decision made in the conference was the creation of the United Nations. This was a new world organization which worked for world peace as did the League of Nations.
Along with the Soviet Union, Byelorussia and the Ukraine were admitted into the United Nations. Since Russia had influence on there voting, the United States was given 3 votes to be equal with the Soviet Union. After the conference, American public opinion was very high and all of the Allied nations responded favorably. There were also secret agreements that were made but kept secret until the end of the war. It was said that the Soviet Union were to enter the war against Japan two to three months after the end of the war in Europe.
This was necessary in order for The Soviet Union to regroup because of the heavy causalities in Europe. The Soviet Union had a great advantage in the secret agreement. It received much land and did not have to do much in the end for it because of the use of the atomic bomb which ended the war much earlier then expected and the Soviet Union did not even have to fight Japan. In the classroom simulation of the Yalta Conference, the same results were not reached.
The Soviet Union was not able to get most of its demands because in the classroom, most of the student looked at communism was not looked at very favorably. There were three groups that represented the United States, the Soviet Union and Great Britain. Out of the three, no one reached the same decision actually made in the conference. Most of the groups did not want the Soviet Union to join the war against Japan. Many groups also thought that the borders should be returned to the pre-war boundaries but that did not happen in the actual conference.
The Yalta conference was good for the Soviet Union because of the heavy reparations it received and also much land was given to the by the decisions made at the conference. Over all it was a good conference because it ended the war in Europe without much argument amongst the major powers in the war. Germany was spared and was only responsible for minimal amount of reparations and Poland received a government that would work. Others might say that Germany did not get a harsh enough punishment but if they received a harsher punishment, we might have another world war.
The conference allowed the major world powers to keep peace within the world but prevent and future breakouts of major wars. By far the most important part of the conference was the creation of the United Nations which is still in existence today and plays a major roll in communication amongst the countries so that there will be world peace.
